Benjamin Crisp (1610-1683)
}} Biography Benjamin was born circa 1610 (deposed aged 45 in 1656, 52 in 1662 and 77 in 1683). Some say he was from Frisby, Lincolnshire, England, but Robert Charles Anderson gives his origins as unknown. His last name is sometimes spelled Crisp. He married Bridget ____ before 1637, probably in Watertown, Mass. A "Mr. Crispe" came on the Plough in 1631 and settled briefly at Watertown, the same year and place where Benjamin Crisp is first seen. It is not known with certainty if he is Benjamin. Benjamin was a mason by trade. He was literate as he signed a deed, rather than using a mark. Watertown Founders Monument He is listed on Watertown Founders Monument, commemorating the first settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts. The town was first known as Saltonstall Plantation, one of the earliest of the Massachusetts Bay Colony settlements. Founded in early 1630 by a group of settlers led by Richard Saltonstall and George Phillips, it was officially incorporated that same year. The alternate spelling "Waterton" is seen in some early documents. He was first at Watertown (named freeman there in 1646), then removed to Groton by 1666 and was back in Watertown in 1681. On 7 Oct 1656 Benjamin Crisp, aged about 45, deposed that he was a servant to Major (Edward) Gibbons "25 years agone,”so almost certainly he came to New England as an indentured servant His name does not appear in records frequently for public service. On 13 April 1681 Watertown selectmen ordered that "Benjamin Crispe" have the "charge of the meeting house committed to him to sweep and ring the bell and what else is needful to be done to fasten the doors and windows when the exercise is done." (Watertown Town Records, 2:7, 8) For taking care of the meeting house, he was to receive an annual salary of 4 pounds, 10 shillings, and was also to be the keeper of the pound. He was then, by his own estimate, in his 70s. Quite remarkable he was still working at that age, which would have been a positively ancient age in the 17th century. Benjamin received six land grants at Watertown: seven acres for his homestead, twenty acres of upland in Great Dividend, nine acres of upland beyond the Further Plain; one acre of meadow at Beaver Brook, four acres of Remote Meadow, and three acres of plowland in the Hither Plain (Beaverbrook Plowlands). On 25 Sept 1666 "Benjamin Crispe of Watertown, mason," joined by "Bridget Crispe, his wife," for a valuable sum of money sold to Thomas Boyden of Groton four parcels of land in Watertown: seven acres of upland and buildings; twenty acres of Great Dividend; twelve acres in Lieu of Township; and a 53 acre farm. Marriage and Family 1st Marriage; Bridget The couple had eight children, born Watertown: Elizabeth, Mary, Jonathan, Eleazer, Zachariah/Zachary, Mehitable, Mercy, and Deliverance. # Elizabeth Crisp (1637-1681) # Mary Crisp (1638-1713) # Jonathan Crisp (1640-1698) # Eleazer Crisp (1642-1726) # Zachariah Crisp (1644-1675) # Mehitable Crisp (1646-1692) # Marcy Crisp (1648-1686) # Deliverance Crisp (1650-1694) - Deliverance's family suffered horribly, with perhaps 5 of their children along with Deliverance and her husband being killed by the Native Americans in an attack on Groton in 1694. Three more of their children were captured and carried off. 2nd Marriage: Joanna Goffe Benjamin Crispe was married second in about 1683 to Joanna Goffe, widow of William Longley, a prominent citizen of Groton. Her son William Longley Jr. married Benjamin and Bridget's daughter Deliverance. Research Notes Vital Records References * #35966147 Category:Migrants from England to Massachusetts